Balthasar van der Ast

Alexander Wheelock Thayer (South Natick, Massachusetts 1817 - 1897 Trieste);

Alice Thayer (according to a label on the reverse);

With Eugene Slatter Gallery, London, 1956;

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Lady'), London, Sotheby's, 2 December 1964, lot 29, for £5,200 to Leggatt;

With Leggatt Brothers, London, until 1965;

Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 10 January 1980, lot 115;

Private Collection, Germany, from 1981 (on loan to the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover from 1999 to 2006);

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 5 July 2007, lot 53, estimate £250,000-350,000, unsold.

Hannover, Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, on loan 1999-2006.

L. J. Bol, The Bosschaert Dynasty, Leigh-on-Sea 1960, p. 72, cat. no. 20.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: This painting is on a fine oak panel, bevelled all round, with one brief old crack from the entre of the base, with a little half torn old tape behind but which has long been stable. There is a central joint, which has never moved. The varnish is quite opaque under ultra violet light, but there have been several small cleaning tests, each with its own retouchings and it is possible that there is some old wear. The pink rose and the iris suggest minute past restoration, with some other places, but this needs closer inspection under a good light and magnification. Much appears to be fine and largely intact, but this report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Van der Ast infrequently set his flower pieces within, or here just in front of a stone niche framed with architectural mouldings.  This device probably stems from the work of his brother-in-law Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder after the latter settled in Utrecht in 1616, where he no doubt adopted it from Roelandt Savery.  As Savery and Bosschaert set their flower pieces within niches, so occasionally did Van der Ast, but in the present work he has adapted this idea by placing his glass vase of flowers on a stone ledge in front of the concave space, which in consequence can be made shallower, requiring less deep shadow and a more even overall lighting. 

As Laurens Bol observed, the sinuous lopped tail of the lizard mirrors the curlicue handle of the jug. 

PROVENANCE
This painting was formerly in the collection of Alexander Wheelock Thayer (South Natick, Massachusetts 1817 - 1897 Trieste). Thayer was interested in music. He was also a meticulous historian. Whilst working as a librarian at Harvard Law School, he resolved to compile a completely unbiased biography of Ludwig van Beethoven. In his own words: "My sole point of view is the truth.” Thayer left for Europe and spent the next two and half years traveling around collecting information about the composer and mastering the German language, all the while barely supporting himself as a journalist. In 1862 he entered the diplomatic service with the help of a fellow Harvard alumnus, and in 1864 was appointed American consul in Trieste (then part of Austria), where he spent the rest of his life completing Beethoven's biography. The result of this labour of love still counts as the standard work on the composer today.